A Weekend Away

Our neighbors and good friends have a lake house on Loon Lake and invited us to spend the weekend with them. I was a bit apprehensive about bringing BabySlimJim since a lake house has a lake and he loves the water- I was imagining myself constantly rescuing him from "swimming" in the cold water, but he didn't try to go in even once! 

The girls had a blast playing outside almost every moment of the day, even Sunday morning at 8am with temperatures in the 40s! They collected and built forts and explored.

There was a very doable hike up a trail called Crusher that we did a couple times. It was nice because for fairly little effort there were some very nice views.

It was a really nice weekend away! 

Bug Hunting, A Party, Some School, A Missing Tooth, and a Playground

Sunnyside Gardens

Today we met our playgroup friends for our annual Sunnyside Gardens trip and wagon photos. Much to the girls' disappointment and the moms' excitement (because the prices for the entertainment are so outrageous) the hayride, train ride and pumpkin patch weren't open for the season yet.

Somehow the kids entertained themselves on the displays of thousands of pumpkins for a couple hours despite the lack of paid activities.

 At least we had an opportunity to take our annual wagon photos!

 

 

The kids did some pumpkin modeling:

And the two crazy kids did lots of jumping!

Hopefully we will have a chance to go back before all the fall fun ends, but who knows... it's shaping up to be a busy fall!

Back to Dance

It's always hard to choose activities for the girls, MiniM.E. especially because she wants to do everything. Now that most activities for kids her age are in the evening, we only have so many weeknights to fill with extra curriculars. 

LittleL.G. decided to go back to dance at the community center with her favorite teacher, Miss Roseanne. 

And MiniM.E. is trying dance at the Dance Lab down the street, where things aren't quite as relaxed. She was so excited for her first dance class of the year!

BabySlimJim tries to sneak in and dance with LittleL.G. but he's not quite old enough yet, so here's a cute rocking chair photo instead.

A Visit From Chris & Ruth

We don't often get to see Bob's Uncle Chris and Aunt Ruth as they live down near D.C., though we did have a chance to stop by to visit on our way down to North Carolina in the spring. 

They were driving by on their way back from Maine so we spent most of the day Sunday with them. First we met downtown for brunch at Ravenous. BabySlimJim napped while we ate. 

 We spent a good part of the afternoon at the Saratoga State Park exploring the Geysers.

 

Then we grilled in the yard and chatted for a while before the kids had to get to bed. Great to see you Chris & Ruth!

Just Hanging Around

Biking the Spring Run Trail

Enjoying some active time outside with friends!

LittleL.G: Preschool Open House and Dance Class

Today we got to meet LittleL.G.'s preschool teacher and play at the classroom for a while during her preschool's open house. It was nice for her to have a chance to meet some of her classmates, get to know the teacher, and spend some time in the room. MiniM.E. seemed to enjoy being back at her old preschool, and BabySlimJim seemed like he was ready to go to school too!

Another first for LittleL.G. today: ballet and tap at dance class. Now that she is almost four, her dance class includes tap. She's been tapping around our house with MiniM.E. forever and was so excited to finally be able to change her shoes halfway through class.

An Activity Filled Weekend

With a big first week behind us one would think we would choose a restful weekend at home, but instead we filled our weekend with fun stuff and crammed in a little yard work and school prep too!

Saturday was Malta Community Day. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for walking around outside and doing fun things like riding ponies, holding snakes and climbing in fire trucks.

 
Sunday afternoon we took advantage of the weather by heading up to the Great Escape. Getting there later in the day there were no lines! The kids jumped on all their favorite rides, including BabySlimJim.

They were also having Oktoberfest activities at the park so we played some games, listened to a polka band, and had fun with the festive jewelry.